My first Christmas as a widow was supposed to be simple in the bleakest way possible.

Work at the library. Go home to an empty house. Heat up leftovers I didn’t really taste. Sleep. Repeat.

That was the plan.

Three months ago, I buried my husband. Cancer took Evan slowly, cruelly—chemo, scans, bad coffee in hospital waiting rooms, and doctors using the word stable like it meant safety. Then one morning, he just didn’t wake up.

After the funeral, our house felt like a stage set frozen mid-scene. His jacket still draped over the chair. His shoes by the door. His toothbrush next to mine, like he was only late coming home. Grief was everywhere, but the mortgage didn’t care. So I took a job as an assistant librarian.

It was quiet work. Shelving books. Fixing printer jams. Crying silently between the stacks.

That’s where I first noticed the old man.

He sat on the bench outside the library gate every morning. Gray hair tucked under a knit cap. A brown coat worn thin at the elbows. Gloves with the fingers cut off. Always the same folded newspaper in his hands.

The first week, I walked past him.

The second week, I dropped a dollar into his Styrofoam cup. He looked up, eyes sharper than I expected, and said, “Take care of yourself, dear.”

The next day, I brought him a sandwich and a cheap coffee.

“Turkey,” I told him. “Nothing fancy.”

He accepted them with both hands. “Thank you,” he said. “Take care of yourself, dear.”

It became our quiet ritual. I got off the bus, gave him whatever I could spare. No questions. No pity. Just that same line every time.

Weirdly, it helped more than all the you’re so strong speeches.

December turned vicious. Slush everywhere. Crooked tinsel in the library. Kids dragging snow across the floor while tinny Christmas music played from a dying speaker.

Then I went home to a house that felt too big.

The day before Christmas Eve, the cold was brutal. When I stepped off the bus, the man’s hands were shaking so badly I couldn’t pretend not to see it anymore. I went home, grabbed a faded fleece blanket, filled a thermos with tea, made a sandwich, added a few cookies, and shoved it all into my tote.

He was hunched on the bench when I came back.

“I brought upgrades,” I said, spreading the blanket over his knees.

That’s when he looked up—and I saw fear.

Not cold. Not hunger.

Fear.

“Please don’t go home today,” he said.

I froze.

“Thank you,” he added hoarsely. “Claire.”

My stomach dropped.

“I never told you my name,” I said. “How do you know it?”

“Stay with your sister,” he said quickly. “Or a friend. Or a hotel. Anywhere but your house.”

The back of my neck went cold.